Born Free

Category: Born Free Kenya | Date: Aug 18 2008 | By: bornfree

Hello readers of Wildlife Direct’s Born Free blog,

My name is Alice Owen, and I am the East African Regional Representative for Born Free Foundation, managing projects across East Africa as well as the Born Free Kenya office.

There are many aspects to Born Free’s work in Kenya, our small team of seven works from an office in Nairobi. Wildlife protection is crucial and we support the removal of animal snares through partner organisations such as the Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust and Youth for Conservation. For this work the fleet of vehicles generously donated by Land Rover is invaluable. 

One of the biggest challenges to conservation of wildlife and habitat in Africa is poor communities living inside or adjacent to wildlife areas.  But without the support of these communities, safeguarding wildlife becomes impossible.  That’s the paradox of conservation in developing countries and why Born Free in Kenya has established a programme that works directly with these communities.  We call it “Global Friends”.

 
Let’s start in Amboseli.  Born Free has supported elephant research and conservation here for many years.  But adjacent to Amboseli National Park lies the Olmoti community.  This is a predominantly Maasai region.  Maasai are pastoralists and move their herds of cattle, goats and donkeys seasonally to find grazing and water.  With expanding populations they have less and less land every year and are forced to become more sedentary.  They are also keener on getting their children educated now, to open up new opportunities in salaried jobs.  It is estimated that only 1 in 10 Maasai is literate. Responding to the growing population, the increasing permanence of settlements and the interest in education, Global Friends decided to focus on supporting education within this community.
 
Two years ago, we found a tiny school at Olmoti with only 74 children and 3 teachers. But there were numerous additional children at home doing chores such as fetching water, herding goats or taking care of siblings.  We wanted to get these children to school too.  This took a year of negotiation with local leaders and parents and we eventually brokered an agreement that if we built a boarding school, the children would attend.  The boarding facility was important, as in a remote area with wildlife about and no public transport, some children can’t get to school as day pupils for fear of encountering elephants and lion along the way. 

By the beginning of 2007 a girls’ dorm was completed and when the school opened that term we started to see the enrolment going up.  By the end of March there were 120 children.  It was like a dream - every day there was a new enrolment or two.  Children simply starting streaming in, some with permission from their parents and some without.  There have been cases where children herding livestock, having seen their friends start to enjoy school, simply ran off and left their goats in the bush.

Now there are over 240 children attending Olmoti and half of them are full-time boarders, 60 boys and 50 girls.  With that encouraging result we sought further support to raise money for a boys’ dorm and more classrooms.  In April 2008, we started the construction of 4 new classrooms and a boys’ dorm thanks to Born Free supporters in the UK, Jack Froggatt and Laurence Bloom.  We’re in the final stages of construction now and will be having an opening ceremony in November 2008!

The joy of working with rural communities is when you see the faces of the children.  It’s just the best thing in the world.  I have two children of my own who are more privileged than the children of Olmoti, but if they all get an education, the future may hold equal opportunities for them all. Alice Owen

Tags: Born Free Kenya, community, Kenya, Ol Moti, school